The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,?USCIS, ?announced on?March 15, 2017 that it will accept H-1B Petitions for Fiscal Year 2018 Beginning April 3 (Link: USCIS Announcement).?The announcement added
The H-1B program allows companies in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require the application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor?s degree or higher in the specific specialty, or its equivalent. H-1B specialty occupations may include fields such as science, engineering and information technology.
Congress set a cap of 65,000 H-1B visas per fiscal year. An advanced degree exemption from the H-1B cap is available for 20,000 beneficiaries who have earned a U.S. master?s degree or higher. The agency will monitor the number of petitions received and notify the public when the H-1B cap has been met.?USCIS recently announced a temporary suspension of premium processing for all H-1B petitions starting April 3 for up to six months. While H-1B premium processing is suspended, petitioners will not be able to file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, for a Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker?which requests the H–1B nonimmigrant classification.
In the past years, USCIS had been accepting the applications during first five business days. During the initial few days, they would receive?enough petitions to fill in the Congressional mandated 85,000 H-1B visas. Media and immigration consultants are speculating if this year be different. ?This 85,000 Congressional mandated limit on H-1B visas include 65,000 in the general category and another 20,000 for foreign students who have masters or higher degree from a US academic institutions.
Top H1 sponsoring companies (link to list) include Indian, American and European software service firms including?Infosys, Capgemini, Tata Consultancy Services, IBM, Wipro, Accenture, Tech Mahindra (Americas), Deloitte Consulting, Cognizant Technology Solutions. The top-20 list includes software companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon.
Other articles and blogs on the topic
- What effect will the H1B Visa Reform Bill have on existing H1B holders drawing salary of less than 100K P.A.?
- Q&A: How would you explain the H1B visa to a 10 year old?? ?
- $35 million Immigration Fine for Infosys: powered by intellect, driven by values?
- H-1B premium processing has been suspended to handle huge rush, says US
- H1-B critics urge Trump to reform visa they say takes jobs from US workers
- 5 colleges launch H1-B effort to keep entrepreneurs in Chicago
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